For years I’ve subscribed to the act of charity, donating to the charitable organizations for the underprivileged children’s education. I guess it felt philanthropic, playing a deliverer or a rescuer with an invisible helping hand!
A feel-good-factor was punctually posted out to me in the form of pictures of the children that benefited [I saved, I liked to think!]. Everything went rippleless until about a year ago.
I began to see commercial strings in the noble performance I was a part of. I had more and more callers with their selling pitch for contributions. It was becoming obnoxious, being prodded by one organization after another and my anonymity betrayed. My phone number seemed out on a limb- a part of a database shared and recycled amongst charity seeking outfits. Nothing would deter the stubborn callers and the over brewing solicitation calls. I decided to freeze the aid, for six months.
The six months barely gone, I had a team of five volunteers heeled into my office, patiently counting the tick of the clock. Heedful of their pursuit for a fat cheque, I asked them how much they drew a month from the organization they represented. “We are volunteers”, they retorted, their benevolence flashing at me, almost set off to be infectious. “That’s lovely” I replied, with another whack at un-shrouding them, “But you surely must be getting reimbursed for your regular trips to the benefactors such as me?” I waited to hear them speak out, to employ my ‘What’s-In-It-For-Me’ theorem to the voluntary services they presented to me. “No”, popped out a unanimous reply. This was now getting a bit sticky.
“What is in it for you, I’d like to understand first”, I asked a direct and square question. “Blessings” came out a rote reply, spontaneously. A look of disbelief washed all over my face and quite staring into theirs. “We get an Achievement Certificate”, they rephrased hoping to impress me with what they thought I received as a very candid reply. “That’s close but I still don’t see the trade-off here”, I reposted with the realization that I was now being intrusive and a bit rude. The line was now drawn clear- no more patience for another plastic response! “The thing is- if we meet a certain target for getting in enough donations- we earn ourselves a visa assurance to a country destination of our choice.”
Duh! Actually, Brilliant- to be hitting on such enticements for roping in a young army of volunteers. I was grossed out by the whole scheme of things and saw no altruism in the charity name game anymore.
By the way, I still do charity, but now with a visible hand. And I still tell everyone that giving aid to the needy is cheaper than buying yourself a pizza. What has changed is that I no longer apotheosize myself by looking out for someone miserably needy, or someone with their ribs pushing out of their dwindling bodies. I just look around myself every day and try to sense who needs a little bit to make a difference in their life.
The sad thing is that we can’t change the whole world, but the good thing is, that when we all change what’s around us, the whole world changes